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In a summer heavy on films we’ve seen before in some shape or form, “Bad Counselors” is nothing if not a novelty: a faith-based message movie masquerading as a frat-bro farce, complete with PG-13 yocks and an “American
Pie” alum cameo. Well, “masquerading” is perhaps unfair. Chris Dowling’s film is earnest in its attempt to extract specifically Christian life lessons from a familiar tale of manchildren forced into growing up, and goes pretty light on the Bible-bashing relative to others in its cinematic church. Still, it can’t help feeling like something of a zucchini-bread movie: more wholesome than it looks, in the manner of sweet treats devised by parents to smuggle vegetable content into their children, but ultimately less fun too.
Following a limited theatrical run via Fathom Entertainment, “Bad Counselors” may find its widest audience on VOD — with an extended afterlife, perhaps, in youth church groups not unlike the one depicted in the film. Crossover potential is limited, unless the recent Prime series “Every Year After” makes a sufficient star of leading man Matt Cornett that his fans get curious.
Cornett’s affable dudebro energy on screen goes some way toward balancing out the more obnoxious aspects of his character Grayson Fuller — a college-fraternity alpha jock introduced smoothly bluffing his way through a pantsless Zoom interview for a high-end finance internship. The interviewer is impressed, though he’d probably be less so if he saw Grayson callously hazing the frathouse’s beleaguered new pledge, or drunkenly heading out on the town with his best friend Tyler (Ramon Reed). The two of them party hard enough and often enough that local police officer Montgomery (Missi Pyle) knows them by name; when some particularly irresponsible carousing crosses a line, however, they’re slapped with a community service sentence.
Good job that the night before, Grayson and Tyler accidentally stumbled into a megachurch worship session, mistaking the garish flashing lights and loud music for a regular nightclub — one of the better jokes that the film makes at its own side’s expense. There, zealous volunteer Becky (McKaley Miller) attempts to recruit the two non-believers as summer church camp counselors — an idea that, in the cold light of day, suddenly strikes Grayson as a good one. Movie law conveniently parlays their lengthy sentence into a week’s work at the cheery, picturesque Burning Bush Camp, where supervising pastor Tom (Chris Klein) sportingly overlooks their dubious childcare creds and eccentric prayer style. What can possibly go wrong?
It’s a potentially funny setup for a culture-clash comedy of sorts. While Tyler finds himself warming to their new, sober environment, Grayson is mostly baffled by the rituals and regulations of organized Christianity — and isn’t very keen on kids either, least of all Patrick (Brayden Gleave), the eager, awkward misfit to whom he’s assigned as a mentor.
But “Bad Counselors” is at pains not to make Burning Bush look overly absurd, which, while fair enough, rather curbs its comic possibilities: There’s little irony or mischief in a film where every character is good at heart, and not much conflict either. What tension there is revolves around Grayson’s growing crush on goody-two-shoes counselor (and Tom’s daughter) Jenna (Brec Bassinger), which arouses both jealousy and suspicion in clean-cut youth pastor Dallas (Nathan Gamble, giving the film’s sharpest, most dimensional turn).
In any event, everything shakes out more or less happily for everyone concerned, with Grayson eventually resolving to forsake “the things that are trying to replace God in our lives.” There’s even some interpretive dance set to brooding Christian rock to nail home the point — by which point “Bad Counselors” has itself forsaken laughs entirely. If this all has you wistfully recalling the snark and satire of the elder-millennial Christian-youth portrait “Saved!,” it’s safe to say you’re not in the congregation for this film, and that’s fine. Still, it’s intriguing to see faith-based cinema taking new forms and approaches, and flirting, however briefly and gingerly, with danger.
